Harry Potter and the Cat
by jenry
Summary: Harry has been with the Dursleys for three months, but he has not stopped crying for his parents. However, one day it all stops when Harry finds a familiar cat and disappears into thin air. It comes to a great surprise when the two pop up at Hogwarts in the year 1977, five years into the past! Can Harry and the cat get back into their time? Who will they meet at Hogwarts?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Prologue

The unrelenting screaming of her nephew was driving Petunia Dursley to drink. Really, there was a half-empty bottle of wine sitting on her kitchen table with a glass filled to the brim of white wine. But even several glasses of wine at one-thirty in the afternoon did not help Petunia forget about the crying of the newest inhabitant in her house.

Taking a large gulp, or two, Petunia stood up and went into her living room. Sitting on the ground was her little sweetums, Dudley. His chubby little hand was holding an ice teething toy that was currently covered in drool. Although he was teething, Petunia's little angel hardly made a fuss and for this, Petunia was thankful. Sitting next to Dudley was Petunia's nephew, Harry. The dark-haired, green-eyed baby would not stop crying. Petunia had tried everything and anything that she could think of to quiet the boy, but nothing would work. Majority of the time, Harry was weepy and would cry out nonsensical words, but sometimes, like this afternoon, Harry would try to scream to see if the entire neighborhood could hear him.

"Mama!" cried Harry. Immediately, Petunia's stomach plummeted and tied up in knots. Without hesitation, she scooped up her nephew and began to attempt to rock him to sleep while humming. Harry's little hands flailed in the air and his crying continued. This was not who he wanted to pick him up. This was not the song he wanted to hear.

"Please, Harry, please be quiet," Petunia begged. Unsurprisingly, this did not work. Petunia attempted to shush Harry for several more minutes until giving up. She placed her nephew back on the ground where he continued to cry. It was a heartbreaking sight to see the eighteen-month-old sit there and cry with big, fat tears streamed down his red cheeks. Dudley was not fazed by his screaming cousin and continued to chew on his cold toy and watch the television program.

Harry had been living with the Dursleys for three months. In this time, there was rarely a quiet moment at 4 Privet Drive with Harry crying for his mama and dada every day. Since the arrival of Harry, Petunia's husband, Vernon, seemed to be leaving the house earlier for work and returning later each day. She suspected so Vernon did not have to listen to his nephew. And Petunia could hardly blame him.

Petunia had not been on speaking terms with her sister, Lily, before she had gotten herself killed. It came to a great surprise when Petunia and Vernon woke up on November 1st to see a baby boy sleeping on their porch with only a letter for an explanation. It was Petunia's nephew, Harry Potter, whom the Dursleys had never met.

Lily sent letters to Petunia over several months before she was killed. These contained information about finding out she was pregnant, her pregnancy journey, and giving birth to Harry. Petunia never responded to any of these letters because she did not want anything to do with her freakish sister, but Lily continued to send the letters anyway. Petunia had continually received letters from Lily for several months after Harry was born, but they eventually stopped all together. It was quite strange, but didn't Petunia question it at first. It seemed as if Lily finally got the message and stopped sending letters.

When Harry was found on the Dursleys porch with a letter explaining that Lily and her husband, James, had been in hiding from a guy named Lord Voldything, or something to that degree, Petunia understood that Lily only stopped once they were forced into hiding. After finishing reading the letter, Petunia broke down into tears and hugged her nephew for the first time in her life. Harry was the only part of Lily that still remained alive and Petunia vowed that she would try to make up for the years she spent at odds with Lily. However, it seemed like it was impossible to make up for those years, as Harry would never stop crying.

A shriek outside, that sounded like an angry cat, snapped Petunia out of her thoughts. Sighing, Petunia tried to think of something different to do that would make Harry stop. With a snap decision, Petunia decided that she would take Harry to see a doctor at a hospital. Hopefully, they would be able to do something for the crying boy. It didn't seem healthy that a little boy would cry for so long.

Petunia began to grab the keys and bundle the boys up in winter clothes. It was the end of January and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. The last thing Petunia needed was a sick little boy in the house. After a second thought, Petunia decided to call a cab to take them to the hospital. It didn't seem wise to drive to a hospital after drinking several glasses of wine and Petunia figured she would hardly be able to concentrate on driving with a screaming Harry.

As the cab pulled up to the front of the house, Petunia grabbed her purse and picked up Harry. Dudley held onto his mother's hand and they slowly walked outside to the cab.

And then, it was quiet.

Petunia's ears were ringing from Harry's crying, but it was completely quiet on Privet Drive. Petunia moved her head to look at Harry sitting on her hip as his last tears dripped down his face. There were no whimpers. No shudders. No tears.

In fact, Harry was smiling. His small arms reached up and his fists were opening, as if to reach for something. Petunia was completely bemused. Sitting on the end of the curb next to the cab was a black and white tabby cat. Or, probably a kitten, as it was still pretty small. Harry began to try to wiggle out of Petunia's arms, wanting to be put on the ground. Petunia, still in a quite bit amount of shock, released her nephew onto the ground.

Harry plunked himself onto the ground and shrieked in delight. His arms opened up and giggled. Then, the cat flew straight into his arms. As if a magician took his magic wand and cast a spell on the cat to be moved through the air into Harry's arms.

The cab driver, who had opened the door for Petunia, fainted at the sight of a cat flying through the air. His body crumbled to the ground next to open door of the cab.

"Mama. Dada." Harry giggled as he wrapped his arms around the cat. He squeezed his eyes tight and sighed, "Mama. Dada." It seemed as if the boy had finally found his peace.

With that, Harry and the cat disappeared into the thin air.

Petunia screamed. Then fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Transfiguration Lesson

In an unused classroom on the fourth floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, two students were standing hunched over a desk in the farthest corner of the room. Although the door was locked and some privacy charms were cast on the room, the two students kept their backs to the door as an extra precaution.

"Aw! He's so cute!" the girl student exclaimed. "Can we keep him?" Her eyes looked extra bright as they widened in wonder.

"Can I hold him? Please, James? She asked her fellow student, James Potter.

"Of course, Lily." James answered as he slowly turned towards Lily, careful not to drop the small bundle in his arms. Lily reached out her arms and squealed as James dumped the warm bundle into her arms. She immediately began to cuddle the small bundle into her arms. James could not believe it. Lily Evans, head girl and ultimate rule follower, was melting into a puddle in front of his very eyes! And from his own spell, no less. _Man, I wish I thought about helping Lily out with transfiguration a long time ago,_ James sighed. Of course he always offered to help Lily with studying transfiguration, but he may have been a bit too assertive in his offerings in the past years. It seemed that James finally grew out of his silly ways (in the eyes of Lily, that is; well, for all she knew) and was serious and responsible enough to help her with the subject that gave her most difficulty, transfiguration. And although this was only the fourth time this school year that the two had met to work through some transfiguration, Lily could already see the benefits from working with James. Transfiguration seemed as easy as breathing was to James and Lily wanted to learn as much as possibly from him.

"He's so warm," Lily commented as she snuggled and cuddled. She was amazed by the magic that James was able to accomplish in front of her very eyes.

"Why do you keeping calling it a he, are you even sure that it's a boy? I could have sworn that when I had done the spell, I was going for a girl." James said as his hazel eyes scrunched closer in concentration.

"Why of course it's a boy! How could I not tell?" Lily said with slight agitation at being accused of being wrong. "Look, James, I'll prove to you right now that I swear that this is a boy!" With that said, Lily unwrapped the soft blanket around the small bundle she held in her arms. As the blanket dropped away to the floor, she held up her arms so that both her and James could observe.

"See! What did I tell you? Look James! It's a…" Lily's voice dropped off as her head cocked to one side in confusion.

"…it's a girl," finished James. "I told you I knew what I was doing. Anyway, aren't I the one that is teaching you how to transfigure a pearl into a kitten?" James asked as his eyebrows rose in questioning.

Lily lowered her arms and pulled the gray kitten close to her chest. The kitten purred as its head made contact with her fuzzy sweater that was wearing.

"I guess you're right, James. I'm sorry. I just got so excited when the pearl became this cute little guy! I just want to hug him and keep him in my arms! I can't get over how cute he is. You really did a wonderful job on the transfiguration," Lily commented. James couldn't help but notice how happy and stress-free Lily looked with the kitten, but knew that he couldn't keep the kitten this way forever.

"Thank you, Lily. I really do appreciate that. However, I do need to transfigure this little gal back into the pearl so we can work on you getting the spell down right. Which, by the way, isn't really that hard. I could have sworn we learned this in third year with…"

"JAMES POTTER! That's enough out of you. I do not need you to tell me how elementary you think this spell is. I need to work on it and you are going to help me, okay?" Lily huffed in frustration and a little bit of embarrassment. For the top girl of their year, which was seventh if you didn't know, she didn't want her other classmates to know how much difficulty she was having with transfiguration. "Just turn this fur ball back and do the spell one more time. I want to watch your wand movements and listen to your pronunciation one more time before I give it a try."

Without another word, James silently transfigured the kitten back into the tiny pearl. Lily rolled her eyes at her peer who was clearly showing off his skills of being able to perform silently. Although James Potter's antics decreased significantly this school year, he still did have a flair for entertainment and showingoffness (a word Lily made up just right then). However, Lily was unsure if James had done the silent spell to show off or he had done it without a second thought. Once Lily had mastered the transfiguration spell, she was determined to be able to learn how to do things silently.

"Okay. I'm ready, James." Lily said as she sat on top of desk that sat against the wall. She wanted to make sure she had a perfect view of what James was doing. James placed the pearl on the floor of the classroom and took a few steps back. He pushed the sleeves of his long-sleeved t-shirt up to his elbows as if he was preparing to do some serious business. Then, he lifted his wand to begin the not-so-complicated wand movements; at least they weren't complicated according to James. Lily crossed her arms and watched in deep concentration as James began to say the incantation.

Then, a soft blue hue seemed to appear from the same spot on the ground that the pearl had laid. When the blue hue diminished, it wasn't the same gray kitten, but a tabby cat, or kitten, as it appeared to be small. In the eyes of Lily, this kitten was _so_ much cuter than the first kitten that James had transfigured.

"So James, did you imagine in your mind a different kind of kitten this time?"

"Lily."

"Or did you just imagine just a kitten in general and the spell takes care of what kind of kitten takes shape?"

"Lily."

"It would be really interesting if you just imagined any kitten and you got different results each time. I wonder what…"

"LILY!" James yelled.

"What, James?" Lily asked, a little bit annoyed.

"Um, I think we have a problem," James replied reluctantly.

"Why? Is it an issue that you produced two different kittens?" Lily asked, confused.

"Lily, I swear to Merlin. You are so smart, but sometimes you just make yourself look really dumb. And before you get offended would you just please look at what is holding the kitten?" James asked as nicely as he could. Before Lily could send James a witty remark, her eyes found the kitten and looked at the bigger picture.

"Oh shit."

"Lily. I am so proud of you, I had no idea that such a word would ever escape from that pretty little mouth of yours!" James clapped in appreciation.

"James."

"Right, sorry. I know, not the time," James finished softly. He looked at Lily more closely and saw that the same confusion was reflected in her eyes. "So…" he started, but didn't know where he was going with it.

"What the hell did you do?" Lily's eyes snapped from the floor back to her peer.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened. I could have sworn that I didn't even finish the incantation. I wasn't even thinking about transfiguring a black and white kitten. I was thinking about the same gray cat from before." James scratched the back of his head, fluffing up his unruly black hair. "I really want to say that it wasn't me because honestly, a third year wouldn't even mess up a spell like this."

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed.

"What? Oh sorry, right. I really mean this in the sincerest way, but once you know the spell, it's hard to mess it up, Lily. And not to sound cocky or anything, but I think I know more than a thing or two about transfiguration. I'm sure I wouldn't have messed up the spell this badly. Heck, I don't even know anything about transfiguring an inanimate object into another human being! I didn't even know that was possible!" James scratched his head once again, as if it would make him make sense of what had just happened.

Sitting behind the black and white kitten, holding it with a near death grip was a small baby boy with wild black hair. It seemed that the boy was sound asleep, but managed to keep ahold of the kitten. However, the little fur ball didn't seem to be bothered by the boy squishing him in his small arms. In fact, the kitten was purring and rubbing its head against the chest of the baby, similar to the gray cat had been doing when Lily was holding it in her arms.

"Are you sure you didn't make this baby appear, James?" Lily asked.

"Yes."

"Yes you're sure or yes you made him appear?"

"Yes, I'm sure! Of course I didn't make him appear. At least, not on purpose; I have no idea how to do that. Unless, oh my merlin! What if I'm some sort of transfiguration genius?" James exclaimed excitedly. Lily rolled her eyes. If there was one thing she knew, genius and James Potter did _not_ belong in the same sentence.

"James! Be quiet, you might wake him up!" Lily exclaimed just as loudly.

"You should listen to yourself, you're yelling just as loudly!" James yelled back. Lily huffed and crossed her arms.

"Mama."

James whirled around from facing Lily to see the baby was wide awake and a bit of drool was coming out of the one side of his mouth. His eyes were bright green and wide in excitement and focused solely on Lily. His one arm still gripped the tabby kitten tightly, but the other was outstretched towards the head girl. Lily and James slid to each other in astonishment. This kid thought Lily was his mom? Why?

"Mama!" The boy exclaimed again, louder this time. He let go of the kitten, which amazingly stayed in its place, and reached out both arms towards Lily, clearly wanted to be picked up by her. "Mama! Up! Mama! Up!" The boy chanted. Lily was stunned and stuck in her spot sitting on top of the desk. James, who was closer to the boy, seemed to be unable to move his feet from where he was standing.

The boy was clearly frustrated by his Mama not responding to him and put both of his hands onto the ground. He then pushed himself up from the ground and slowly walked towards the desk that Lily was sitting on. He grabbed one of Lily's socks and pulled on it to get her attention.

"Mama! Up! Now!"

Lily seemed to be broken from her trace when the baby said his final command and without hesitation, pulled the baby into her arms. The baby let out a squeal of delight and wrapped his chubby baby arms around her neck and cuddled his face into her neck. Seemingly satisfied, the boy turned to look for his cat, but caught sight of another person in the room, James.

The biggest and happiest smile James had ever seen on any person before happened right in front of him on this little boy as he clapped his little hands together in joy.

"Dada!"

 _You've got to be kidding me._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: What do we do now?

Harry was a very happy boy. He was wrapped in his mama's arms and his dada was giving him a funny face. Harry loved when his daddy made funny faces. He missed them so much! He didn't know if where they were for so long. And he was stuck with that fat boy and his mama and papa for the longest time! Harry was so happy that his wish came true! Even kitty was here with him! With the thought of his kitty, Harry squeezed harder on the cat that was in his arms. The car didn't seem to mind and purred, which made Harry giggle.

His mama and his dada looked a little different, but maybe that is because Harry hadn't seen them in so long! Harry looked up at his dada and the man was still looking at him with a funny face. Dada was so silly sometimes. His mouth was hanging wide open and his eyes were open so much. Harry giggled again and snuggled against his mama. Soon, the warmth of his mama's arms overcame him and Harry succumbed to sleep, finally happy after so much time between away from his parents.

James, on the other hand, wasn't sure how long he stood there in the unused classroom on the fourth floor of Hogwarts, but he's certain that it was at least greater than three minutes. He was very confused where the little boy came from. He kept reimagining himself casting the incantation to transfigure the pearl into the kitten and just couldn't figure out where he went long. Maybe it wasn't him that did something wrong. Maybe it was...

"Okay, let's go through what just happened. I just need to talk through it to make sure I'm not imagining this right now," James said, breaking the silence that settled in the quiet classroom. This seemed to have broken Lily out of her trace. Her green eyes no longer looked distant and they suddenly widened, as if she just realized that she was holding the wild-hair little boy for the first time. The little boy, who was in fact, sound asleep.

"Well, James. There was a cat and then it became a pearl. Then the pearl became a cat again, but a different cat this time and this little guy was also transfigured. And then he called me his mama and called you his dada. And that's basically what happened," Lily said slowly as she looked down at the boy who was starting to drool on her chest.

"What are we going to do?" asked James with slight hysteria.

"Do you know how to change him back?" Lily asked and went on to say, "I don't even know if I want to do that. He feels so real. Like a real baby."

"I don't know how to do that _and_ it would be bad if I messed up. I can't hurt this little guy! Plus, do we transfigure them both back together or separately? I don't know how I made two things out of one pearl. Especially when I was only trying to transfigure the pearl into one cat. We should look into doing some research or we could just ask Professor McGonagall to help us out..." James replied. If anyone was a genius with transfiguration, it was Professor McGonagall. She would definitely be able to help James and Lily figure out what James had done wrong.

However, Lily seemed to be on a completely different wavelength than what James was thinking to solve the mystery of the kid appeared from nothing. "We can't do that! Are you crazy? We could get in some serious trouble!"

James, the master of getting into trouble shot an annoyed glance at Lily. "Then what do you suggest we do? Hide him in our room?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Do you realize how much trouble we would get in for bringing a little kid to McGonagall? She'd tear our brains out! All the points we'd lose! And head girl position taken away! All my hard work put down the drain, because of you!" Lily finished her rant with a glare at James.

"I think you're being a little bit dramatic. I don't know how this happened!" James exclaimed.

"There's no way McGonagall would just accept that we messed up a spell and a baby popped into existence! That doesn't just happen! I mean, come on, your head boy and I'm head girl. I'm sure we can figure this out in a couple of days and no one ever has to know. James, we're going to have to figure out how to fix this and what went wrong," Lily replied.

"Lily, we're going to figure this out! It's you and me! James and Lily! But Lily, I have no idea how to care of a kid! I don't have any siblings," James admitted.

"I'm the youngest child, but I always babysit during summer break. I mean, I've never watch someone this young, but it shouldn't be that hard, right? This little guy seems pretty well behaved," Lily said.

James wasn't fully convinced, but it was Lily and she was never wrong. "Okay. If you say so, but where are we gonna put him? You said we'll hide him from our dorm, but do you really think we can keep him there?"

"On second thought, maybe my room isn't the greatest place to keep this kid," Lily said. Although she was friends with her roommates, they were often loud and couldn't keep a secret to save their lives.

"No offense, Lily, your roommates couldn't keep a secret if their lives depended on it. Hey! He could totally stay in my room. We just have to tell Sirius, Remus and …"

"No no no. We are not telling Black, Pettigrew and Remus about this. I mean I would tell Remus but there's no way we're keeping this boy in your room. He'd be lost under all of your clothes and you'd never see him again!

"Okay you totally have a good point, but my roommates are good guys. I know we can trust them to keep a secret." James was lucky to have such good friends. He knew that his friends would never betray him. They all shared secrets together that they would take to their graves before spilling their secrets.

"I'd rather just keep this between the two of us. Plus, we should have this figured out by the end of the week and it would just become complicated if so many people found out," Lily said.

"Okay, okay, fine, woman. You win, but if this becomes too much for us, we're getting help. And if that's not enough, we're telling McGonagall," James said with the sternest gaze he could give to his red-headed friend that he had a crush on since first year. "This is actually funny," James said, "I'm the one who wants to tell the teacher and Lily Evans wants to break the rules! Who knew this day would ever come!" With that, James started to skip around the room and shouting every couple of steps.

"James! Get a hold of yourself. You're gonna wake this guy up. But, anyway, fine. If we can't handle, which I'm sure we can, we'll tell your roommates. BUT! We're only telling Remus first. The less people that know that we someone magicked a child, the better," Lily said.

"Ugh, fine," James scoffed. "Still don't know where we're going to put him though."

Lily was amazed. In front of her was the boy who snuck around this castle more than anyone she knew. If there was someone who would know where to put this guy, it's James. "You know this castle better than anyone. How do you not know somewhere we can keep him?" Lily asked.

James could think of many unused places in Hogwarts that no one would go to, as a lot of these secret places look like they haven't been touched in years. However, the places that weren't touched weren't the best places for a kid to be. The library was too public, the greenhouse was too far away as was the pitch, the home of the owls was too noisy, the kitchens would be pretty cool, but he wasn't certain that one of the elves weren't going to tell on them to Dumbledore.

There was the room that James had just discovered last night when he was on his head boy patrols. He hadn't even gotten a chance to tell Sirius, Remus or Peter about it yet. He thought that this room was made up, but apparently, the come and go room did in fact exist. And it could work as a place to put the kid, but it would be difficult to explain their disappearances all of the time. Just as James was going to suggest this room to Lily, she interrupted him.

"Wait, we're so dumb! The head dorms!" Lily smiled brightly at her spur of the moment idea. It would solve the issue of keeping the baby somewhere safe and he would be close to Lily and James at all times.

 _How could I forget about the Head dorm?_ James thought. He hadn't even tried to go looking for it when he came back to school. He got so busy he completely forgot.

When James found out over the summer that he was head boy, he was surprised. In fact, he wrote a letter to Dumbledore immediately after getting his letter to make sure this wasn't a prank being pulled one him. For one, he was not a prefect fifth or sixth year. Secondly, he was sure that Remus was going to get it. He was nervous and excited to be Head Boy, but he was most eager to work with Lily Evans.

Little did many people know, the Head Boy and Head Girl got to choose where they wanted to live during their seventh year at Hogwarts. They were given the option to stay in the same rooms as previous years or they could both move into the Head Dorm. However, either both of them went or both of them stayed. For this reason about making the decision, the Head Boy and Head Girl received their letters about their position fairly early in the summer. When Lily received her letter from Dumbledore, she was humbled by the honor that she was given. Her eyebrows went up to her hairline when she read that her partner would be none other than James Potter, the bane of her existence.

Lily was surprised to see an owl the next day at her window when she came downstairs to eat breakfast. She was familiar with this owl, but based on previous summers, she wouldn't get a letter from James until a month into summer. And when she saw the owl in the window, she fully expected James to be bragging about getting Head Boy, similarly to how he bragged about getting the Quidditch Captain badge the previous summer. Surprisingly, this letter was different from previous letters, it was significantly shorter and there were no drawings at the bottom on the page.

 _Dear Lily,_

 _It's me, James. I hope your summer is going well so far. I received a letter yesterday from Dumbledore that said I received the Head Boy position for seventh year. I immediately responded to him and asked if he was pulling a joke on me, but I just got a letter back this morning that says that it is the truth. I just wanted to let you know that I hope to do my best as Head Boy and am looking forward to working with you this year. In regards to where we live next year, I would not mind moving into the Head dorms, but I know we both have close friends in Gryffindor and we would be able to meet easily since we would be living right near each other. You really do deserve to choose; you deserve this position. I don't care either way where we live. Hope to hear from you soon._

 _Congratulations,_

 _James_

The letter had shocked Lily. Not once did James Potter ask her out on a date in the letter. Every letter she had gotten from him previous summer he managed to pop that question. She was even more surprised that he did not demand to room with her, which would have been her worst nightmare. In fact, his response was the exact opposite of what she thought he was going to say. A small smile shown on her face at the mention of her friends in her dorm and was thankful that James gave her the option to choose. Although Potter seemed to be mature in his response, Lily wasn't sure if she could handle living her own with Potter for an entire year. Therefore, she quickly replied, congratulating James (and stating that she was surprised that he got the position), and stated that she would prefer to stay in Gryffindor with their friends for the final year at Hogwarts.

James had no qualms with her decision and that was that. For the few weeks that they have been at Hogwarts, there had been hardly any issues between the two Heads and it was easy to meet with each other to go over things before prefect meetings and meetings with the staff. The only issues that occurred were that non-Gryffindor students sometimes had difficulty getting the attention of James and Lily. Some students, especially those who didn't have friends in Gryffindor, felt uncomfortable going into Gryffindor common room to talk to Lily and James about whatever issue or concern that they had.

"James, I have the perfect idea, why don't we just move into the head dorm? We can say that after a few weeks, we've decided it would be more beneficial for us to live in the head dorms. Students who don't live in Gryffindor can come to us without feeling uncomfortable and we can hold meetings in her with the prefects! And little do they have to know..."

"Little do they have to know that the kid will be living there with us! Lily you're brilliant! You're so smart! This is why I love you!" With that, the baby was startled awake and looked around the room to see who was making the noise. Lily, who was holding the boy, froze for a moment; she hadn't heard James proclaim his love to her since the end of sixth year and felt a small flutter of nerves in her stomach.

"Dada!" the boy screeched loudly with his arms extended towards James. James picked him up, awkwardly, and held the boy in his arms. The boy placed his head on James' should and put his arms around James neck.

"Yeah, we're going to have to do something about this whole Mama, Dada thing," said James.

"Why? I think it's kind of cute and it's not like we're going to be with him for too long. I don't think it will be an issue," Lily replied without a second thought, not seeming to think that the boy would be with them for longer than maybe a week or two.

"Well, we should either give this guy a name or figure out if he has one already," said James. He placed the boy on the floor and squatted down so that James could look him right in the eye. James put his hand on his chest and said, "Dada." The boy excitedly repeated, "Dada!" James nodded in acceptance and then placed his hand on Lily's shoulder, who had come to sit on the floor next to James. "Mama," said James while gesturing to Lily. The boy pointed at Lily and happily shouted, "Mama!" Then, James took his hand and put it on the boy's chest and waited.

The boy looked curiously at James, but did not respond. Lily decided to point her finger to her chest and say, "Mama." Quickly, she pointed to James and said, "Dada." Then, she pointed to the boy in front of her and waited. The boy grew a big smile on his face and shouted,

"Harry!"

Lily and James looked at each other for a quick moment. Both looked concerned. If this boy really was just transfigured, how did he have a name?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: New Living Spaces

Lily ran through the hallway as fast as she could to go to McGonagall's office. Her and James didn't really have much choice. Although Lily would have been better off looking after Harry, there was no way that McGonagall would believe James if he asked for a request to move living locations. Although James had gotten his act together this year, the two Heads thought that McGonagall might think that James was pulling a prank if he told their transfiguration professor Therefore, Lily was in charge of getting the move approved as quickly as possible and James was in charge of Harry. As scary as that was, they didn't have much choice. Hopefully James was able to occupy Harry long enough. James was worried because he didn't know what to do with Harry, but Lily assured him that she wouldn't be gone for long.

When Lily approached McGonagall's office, she slowed down and lightly knocked on the door as she tried to catch her breath. Professor McGonagall opened the door a few seconds later and let Lily sit down in one of the red, plush chairs in her office. Lily quickly made her way to a seat that she had sat in many times in the past, not because of detentions or anything of the sort, but because of the chats that the Head Girl would have on some occasions with the transfiguration professor.

"Miss Evans, is everything alright, dear? You looked rather, well, flushed," the normally stern transfiguration teacher said with concern in her voice. The professor narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked over the slightly out of breath Head girl whose skin was flushed red. McGonagall grabbed her wand that was in the front pocket of her dark green robes and gave a it a wave; a tray of tea and cups appeared on her desk.

"Uh, yes, everything's fine Professor. I just ran all the way down here to your office," Lily replied. McGonagall's eyebrows rose slowly on her forehead and leaned forward.

"Well, what's the rush dear? Is everything okay? Was there an incident that needs my attention?" asked Professor McGonagall. She pushed a cup toward Lily in hopes to settle the frazzled looking girl.

"There's no incident, Professor. I just ran all the way down here because I didn't want to waste any time during the day. I have a lot of things to get done. Why I came down here was because I wanted to ask for a request," Lily spoke as quickly as she could. She was nervous that McGonagall wasn't going to grant permission of their move because school had already started. Before McGonagall could interrupt, Lily continued. _Better to get it out all now,_ she thought.

"Professor, James and I had a discussion earlier today and…"

"James Potter?" The professor had never heard Lily address Potter with his first name before.

"Yes, professor. Anyway, as I was saying, James and I were having a discussion earlier today and …"

"Lily, dear, before you continue, I just wanted to commiserate you and Potter for putting your differences aside so far this school term and working so well together. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous that this would be disastrous, but I am glad to say that you two have proved me wrong. Well done. I hope that this will continue for the rest of your stay at Hogwarts," McGonagall said with some pride in her voice. Lily was momentarily stunned by the praise that her professor had just given her. She knew that fighting between her and James had significantly decreased, but she didn't know that it had been taken notice by her professors.

"Thank you Professor McGonagall. I really appreciate it and I'm sure that James does, too. Anyway the reason I came down here was to ask for your approval to have James and I move into the Head Quarters," Lily asked as politely as she could muster. This was not what McGonagall was expecting Lily to ask her. When it was decided that Potter and Miss Evans would be the Head Boy and Girl, McGonagall was nervous, but she was pleasantly surprised with her two students so far this year. That being said, she never expected the two to get along so well that they would willingly share living quarters.

"May I ask why Miss Evans? This is an unusual request, especially since the term has already decided," McGonagall stated.

"Originally James and I decided that we would stay in our rooms in Gryffindor tower because it would be easy for us to meet and I couldn't bear the though of living by myself with him. However, we've realized over these couple of weeks that our decision was quite selfish to students that were not in Gryffindor. We want all students to be able to come to us without being uncomfortable being in another House," Lily said. Underneath the desk, out of McGonagall's sight, Lily's hands were clenched into fists. "Plus," Lily added, "after this year, we will be out in the real world. I think it would be a good experience to live somewhere else. And, I have a note from James agreeing with what I just proposed to you. He would have been here as well, but he is busy at the moment." Lily took a piece of parchment out of her robe that James quickly scratched on before she left the unused classroom and handed it to McGonagall. The professor took the parchment out of Lily's hands and quickly read it. After a few moments, McGonagall nodded.

"Of course I'm going to approve! How could I not, after my two lions wish to help out all students in Hogwarts! You two are truly growing into selfless young adults and I hope this behavior does continue and I wish the two of you the best of luck with the students in the other houses," McGonagall said, puffing with pride for her two students. Lily had difficulty meeting her professor's eyes. Although that was a good motivation for their move, Lily and James really just wanted a place to keep an eye on little Harry.

"So, how soon can we move?" Lily asked. She wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Hopefully James was okay!

"Let's go now and set it up. You can find James later and let him know the details."

With that, Lily followed McGonagall out of her office in the direction of the Quarters of Head Boy and Head Girl.

Green eyes stared into hazel eyes. It was a contest of wills. The last to remain would surely be known as the strongest man in the room. Unfortunately, the hazel eyes didn't want to remain open.

"Oh for fu-, I mean, for merlin's sake! I lost again!" James shouted. He stomped his feet threw his arms around his chest. Harry giggled from the chair he was sitting in that James conjured up for just his size. It had been the third time in a row that James had lost to Harry in a staring contest. "Well, now what?" It had taken James several moments settle Harry after Lily had left the classroom. The boy didn't realize she was gone because he was playing with James, but once he noticed that she was gone, he began to scream. Now, the boy was giggling at the fake anger James was giving for losing the staring contest, again.

"Too bad we can't leave the classroom right now, we could totally play Quidditch!" James says with much enthusiasm and without any regard for lack of safety that would be. "I do have a good replacement though!" With that, James pulled a golden ball out of his robe pocket. "This, Harry, is a snitch. When the seeker catches it, the game is over. I don't play seeker, but my Dad gave me this as a gift one Christmas. Here, try to catch it!" James let go of the snitch, but knew that it was unlikely that Harry would catch it. The snitch fluttered in front of Harry and then began to shoot into another direction. Before it could get too far, two small hands captured the snitch.

"Yay!" Harry exclaimed. He looked comfortable with the snitch in his hand. "Dadda, go!" Harry let go of the snitch and James caught it before it could get too far away. James was uncomfortable with Harry calling him 'Dadda', especially because he was not a dad. But he was very impressed with Harry's seeker skills.

"We'll have to get you on a broom soon! You're a natural seeker with those hands!"

"James Potter! Please tell me you're kidding!" Lily said as she walked in the room from the hallway. "Harry cannot go on a broom! He's too young and would fall off!"

"Momma!" Harry waved his hands in Lily's direction.

"Hi Harry. Were you good for James while I was gone? Clearly he was not being good for you," Lily said with a smirk on her face. She ran her hand through his dark, messy hair that was somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't place where she had seen in. "Well, do you want to go see where we're going to live now? I have to admit, it's pretty awesome," Lily said. James nodded enthusiastically, which put Harry into giggles. James put his hands out and grabbed Harry to pick him up. It was a little awkward on James part, as he had never held a child before, but Harry seemed to know what to do and snuggled his face into James' chest. James was surprised about Harry's action, but a small smile appeared on his face. He looked up to see Lily smiling as well.

Before James could ask what they were going to do with Harry, Lily asked "Do you want me to place charms on the two of you so we can quickly get to our rooms without any problems?" James nodded and Lily raised her wand to the two boys. Without a word spoken, Harry's babbling went quiet and they disappeared from Lily's sight. Then, Lily left the classroom on the fourth floor and made her way towards the staircase that lead to the Great Hall. When she got to the second floor, she made a left at the staircase and walked not too far down the hallway.

Lily stopped in front of a painting of a meadow filled with flowers and some animals. She pressed her hand to the middle of the painting and a golden light appeared under her hand on the painting. Then, the frame swung backwards and served as an entrance of the Head's common room. After several seconds, the frame gently closed by itself. Inside the common room was a large fireplace on the right side wall with two large, comfy chairs in front of it. There was a small table place in between the chairs and a fuzzy rug in front of the fireplace where a small fire was lit. On the left side were two L-shaped couches that loosely formed a square shape. There was a large, square table that was low to the ground in the middle of the couches. On the wall where the entrance was, there were floor to ceiling bookshelves that went across the entire wall.

"Remus is going to be _so_ jealous when he sees all of these books," a voice said right behind Lily. She jumped fright. Clearly, James had undone the spells on Harry and himself. And James was right; Remus was going to be jealous. There were more chairs scattered around the common room. It was a lot larger than what seemed necessary for two people. However, they were the Head Boy and Head Girl, so Lily thought they _did_ deserve it. On the far side of the room, there were several steps that lead to a platform. At this platform were three doors: the left labeled "Head Girl", the middle nothing, and the right labeled "Head Boy".

Lily reached for her door handle and opened the door. As she opened it, the knob had glowed as it did when she placed her hand on entrance to the common room. Inside were a large four-post bed, a desk, a dresser, a closet and a door that looked like it led to a bathroom. When she came out of her room, James was standing in front of the door that was in the middle of the platform. Harry was on his hip, tugging on James' dark hair. James put his hand on the knob, and entered the room as it glowed. Inside, was a nursery for Harry. There was a crib, a soft rug, a rocking chair, tons of toys, a closet and a bathroom that had a large bath inside of it.

"Look Harry! This is going to be your room, how fun!" James said in an excited voice for Harry. The little boy looked amazed at everything in the room. James placed him on the ground near the pile of toys in the corner and Harry picked up a fuzzy green dragon. "I figured that we could make better use of this room for Harry instead of as a study room. I hope that's okay," James said to Lily.

"Absolutely. James you did a wonderful job with this room."

"Thank you, Lily."

Lily and James simply stood and watched Harry play with his dragon for a few moments. Harry started to crawl to reach the other toys. He grabbed a plush broomstick and started to wave it around in the air.

"Ahhh. Weeee. Woooah!" Harry mumbled in a soft voice, as if he was the one flying a broomstick. James smiled as he watched the little boy pretend to fly the broomstick through the air.

"Don't you think it's strange that Harry is crawling? Shouldn't he be walking by now?" Lily asked.

"You're really asking me? I've never even held a baby until Harry came along. I have no idea," James replied.

"I just feel like he's at the age where he should be walking around, but we really should get to the bottom of how he came about. Do you have time now to start finding out what happened?" Lily asked. James really wanted to go see his friends. He told them that he had some Head Boy stuff to do when he was helping Lily out earlier with transfiguration and would meet up with them later, but since it was kind of his fault Harry was here, there really wasn't much choice.

"The sooner, the better, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, you grab Harry and whatever he will need to keep him occupied for awhile and I'll grab some food. I'll meet you in the common room in a few minutes," James said as he walked out of Harry's room. Lily turned around and saw Harry sitting on the floor, playing with his toys quietly. She squatted down in front of him and ran her hands through dark, soft hair.

"Harry, we're going to go downstairs and-UGH! Harry, is that you?" A terrible smell hit Lily's nose. She leaned in closer to Harry and the smell got stronger. Lily drew her wand from her pocket and placed a few cleaning charms on Harry to clean him up and the smell went away. "Much better. Let's go downstairs, okay buddy?" Lily picked Harry up and placed him on her hip. She then grabbed a few more toys and a soft, dark blue blanket that was in the crib and headed downstairs.

James was looking through the bookshelves trying to find the right books to start research. A tray of food was on the table in front of the large couch. Lily sat down on the couch and placed harry on the floor to play with his toys.

James placed five large books on the table and said, "Alright, let's get going. I want to find out where little Harry came from."

A giggle was heard from the floor where Harry was playing, as if he knew something that James and Lily did not.


End file.
